


Sodapop & Steve (Unintentionally) Come Out

by QMatchmaker888



Category: The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Coming Out, Homophobia, M/M, Period-Typical Homophobia, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-06
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-03-01 01:16:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13283862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/QMatchmaker888/pseuds/QMatchmaker888
Summary: Ponyboy comes home from school to find his brother kissing Steve and absolutely freaks out and barricades himself in his room until Darry comes home from work. The tags do not do justice to the amount of homophobia in this fic. Beware.





	Sodapop & Steve (Unintentionally) Come Out

**Author's Note:**

> Basically what it says in the summary. Other than that, this starts in 1969, a few months before the Stonewall Riots.

Ponyboy had just gotten home from school and was wondering if Soda was home too. Judging by the sounds coming from Soda’s room, he was not only home, but making out with someone. He was glad Soda was finally dating again. Pony hadn’t seen Soda touch a girl since Sandy left, and that was about two years ago. Ponyboy tiptoed. He wanted to surprise his brother. Only when he opened the door did he realize that his big brother was not kissing a girl. He was kissing Steve. In the way he would kiss a girl. And Steve was kissing him back. Ponyboy stared in utter shock. Then he dropped his bag and ran.  
“Pony… Ponyboy…” Soda called as Ponyboy raced to the bathroom.  
“I should probably go,” Ponyboy heard Steve say as he lost his lunch in the toilet bowl.  
“Good idea” Sodapop replied as Pony dashed back to his room and barricaded the door.  
And when Soda knocked on Pony’s door to say “Pony? It’s Soda. Please let me in, I just want to talk” and Ponyboy responded “Go away, you… you faggot!” it hurt worse than if Ponyboy had shot him through the heart with a gun.  
~~~  
Ponyboy lay on his bed, curled into a ball. Sodapop. His older brother Sodapop. The brother he had always looked up to was a… oh god he didn’t want to think about it. A lot of things suddenly made sense, though, like the way they looked at each other when they thought no one else was looking. Or how they walked side by side, shoulder to shoulder, always touching. He wondered how long they’d been… together. Pony remembered the first time he had heard the word. The word for what Soda was. Some of the Soc jerks at school had called a little kid that. Later that evening he asked Darry what it meant.  
_Darry looked surprised. “Why do you ask?” He said._  
_“I heard some Socs calling a kid that just before they beat him up.”  
“Hmm_ ,” _said Darry “serves him right if the accusations were true.”_  
_“Whaddaya mean?”_  
_“It means a guy who likes guys the way he should like girls. It’s wrong. Disgusting.”_  
 _Pony mimed throwing up._  
Sodapop had remained uncharacteristically silent for the entire conversation. Now, as much as he wished he didn’t, Ponyboy knew why.  
~~~  
Darry knew something was wrong the moment he stepped in the front door. First of all, Soda was sitting on the couch, curled into a ball, face streaked with tears. He looked devastated, broken. The last time Darry had seen Soda this bad was when their parents died.  
“Soda! What’s wrong? What happened? Are you and Pony OK?”  
“No,” was Soda’s only response.  
“Where’s Pony?” Darry asked.  
“In his room,”  
Darry let out a sigh of relief and almost immediately regretted it as Soda continued.  
“You better go check on him. He won’t let me anywhere near,” Soda said, tears streaming down his cheeks.  
~~~  
Darry knocked on Pony’s door.  
“Sodapop Curtis,” came a voice from inside that could only be Pony’s, filled with anger, hurt, and disgust? “I told you to go away, faggot.”  
Darry almost wheeled around and demanded the whole story from Soda right that second. Instead he said to Pony through the door, “Pony, it’s just me, Darry”  
Pause.  
There was a scraping noise as if someone was removing a chair from beneath the door handle.  
Pause.  
“OK you can come in,” came a weak voice from the other side.  
Ponyboy looked as devastated as Soda.  
“What happened?” Darry demanded.  
“I… I… came h-home from s-school,” said Ponyboy, his voice shaking, “and Soda… S-Soda was…”  
“C’mon, spit it out,” said Darry.  
“Soda was kissing Steve”  
“WHAT?!” Darry shouted before stomping out of the room to confront Soda.


End file.
